The Money Spy website

Welcome to The Money Spy....This is where we will be posting articles, latest news updates, opinions, prompting discussions or just about anything interesting related to finance. If you would like to contact us then call 01892 506970 or email info@themoneyspy.net

The headline figure was nothing to write home about, but drill down and maybe there is reason for real optimism.

The UK’s balance of trade in goods barely moved in March, with the deficit coming in at £9.1 billion. So far, so indifferent.

As for the UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services, this was marginally better than February scoring £3.1 billion from £3.4 billion the month before. Okay that was an improvement , but actually the deficit for March was pretty close to average over the last year or so.

The deficit has not significantly changed over the last ten years. Now, change the perspective, and look outside Europe. Exports to the US soared 21 per cent in March over the month before.

Exports to the BRICS have been steadily rising for some time. See this chart:

Okay, exports to China are still way below imports from China, but the chart makes it clear that exports have been growing much faster than imports for some time. In fact over the last two years, exports from the UK to China have increased by half as much again. Imports from China to the UK have risen 10 per cent.